It's still definitely winter. Another 2-3 inches of snow yesterday topped up the snow cover. Quite a bit of it has melted down around the Tidal Basin, but the see-sawing slightly warmer days and cold nights has left an inch or two of crunchy snow. What looks to be a reasonably thick layer of ice still covers the Tidal Basin, which in turn is covered by snow. A few scattered snow flurries this morning is giving way to bright sunshine this afternoon.
Overall, we're still mostly in the cold cycle, and this very cold February will have the effect of slowing down the process of the cherry blossoms. But if we get some warm days in March it could speed things up and undo the effects of the cold February.
The National Park Service will be issuing its first peak bloom forecast this coming Tuesday. So stay tuned!
You can always find the most up-to-date information on the peak bloom forecasts page.
